Welcome to One-to-One Week 5. This week’s theme is Life Management – Part 1: Rest. Many years ago I realized “time management,” wasn’t a big enough concept to capture my imagination or my attention for very long. To order my life I needed something more engaging. So after a period of prayer and reflection on God’s word, I realized “Life Management,” would be my focus. It seemed to me “Life Management” divided into seven integrated parts. (As with all lists of seven, someone else may have come up with eight or ten, or perhaps only five or six.) While you may have come up with most of the same components of Life Management if you thought about it for as long as I did, I’m sure you wouldn’t have come up with rest as the first one. Who would put REST first in a list of seven parts of Life Management? Actually, I think God might. That’s why I did. As I was praying, reflecting and rearranging the seven parts it occurred to me that REST is the first reality in creation, and God ordered days differently than we do. More about that as we move through the week. For now, let me list the seven aspects of Life Management: 1) Rest; 2) Prayer; 3) Physical Care; 4) Relationships; 5) Study; 6) Work; and 7) Stewardship/Finances. Since we’ll be investing a week in each of the seven aspects, the only additional comments I’ll make about the other six here is numbers 1 & 2 are in their order, because they’re most important. Numbers 3, 4, & 5 could be considered in any order, but I went with 3 being Physical Care, because it is often discussed in our culture, but seldom practiced. Numbers 6 & 7 are last not because they’re least, but because most folks want to move to the topics of work and money too quickly. When we do that we miss out on living a life that matters most.

For today, let me introduce my rationale for placing REST first on the list of Life Management matters. Before God created anything we’re told the earth was formless and empty and darkness was over the surface of the deep. Some have called that a state of chaos. I wouldn’t argue with that, but we could also call it a state of rest. Nothing was happening. When an object isn’t moving we say it’s at rest. Before the universe started “moving,” it was at rest. (Technically, it didn’t exist, but bear with me.) In any case, God spoke and things started happening. As we read Genesis one we see over a period of six days God created the heaven’s, the earth and all the earth contains including the first two people. When we turn to the summary of each day we read these words, And there was evening, and there was morning--the ________ day. (The blank would be filled with the number corresponding to the day: first, second, third and so on.) The key to note is there was EVENING and then MORNING. The “day” started at night. Why? Perhaps the day started at night because there wasn’t any light when things started so it was evening, and morning came after the light was created. Nevertheless, the Jewish people picked up on the order and implemented it for their culture. For Jews to this day the Sabbath, as all other days, starts in the evening. I can’t prove my theory, but what if God was telling us, “You go ahead and rest, and I’ll take care of things until you wake up. Then you can join me in my work.”? The reason that makes so much sense is we DO join God in His work. It isn’t the other way around. We don’t jump out of bed in the morning START the day, work until night and then END the day in bed. I know most of us think of it that way, but the truth is there was evening and morning the first, second, third, and each successive day I go to bed, you go to bed, and we REST. We rest until the morning. Then we wake up and join God in His work. He is always the initiator and we are always the responders. When we understand that, and only when we understand that do our lives glorify God most. This may be a new idea for you, and you may disagree with me, but I believe when we understand God starts the day, and we join Him in the middle of it, we gain a proper humility for our lives. We also gain the perspective of worship that comes from knowing God IS God and we are not. I hope as we go through this week you will gain an appreciation for why REST precedes the other six parts of Life Management, and much more importantly, I hope you will make rest a priority in your life if it isn’t right now.

Our theme passages for this week takes into account that God didn’t just call us to rest at night, but that He called us to rest one whole day each week, a day the Jews called the Sabbath. More on that tomorrow, but for now, let’s look at what God said about the day of rest. We’ll use two passages–one from Genesis and the other from the list of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20–as our theme passages for the week. Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV)2By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV) Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV) 8"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV) As we see, God took the Sabbath or day of rest seriously, and commanded His people to do so, too. As we’ll see on day three Jesus reinterpreted the Sabbath somewhat, but didn’t deny its importance for us.

As we consider REST as the first part of Life Management this week, we’re talking about daily rest, the weekly day of rest, and I’m going to suggest one additional aspect of rest that isn’t found specifically in a command of God, but which we see in Jesus’ life, and that is the extended period of rest or solitude. More about that on day four.

As we turn to our application of Life Management – Part 1: Rest, I want to remind us again that reflection can be a form of application. In other words, taking the time to reflect, to consider, to pray over a matter is an action or an application. Sometimes when we think of action or application we think of physical movement or activity. But when it comes to living our lives as Jesus’ followers, we need to stop sometimes to reflect, to ponder, to consider what it is we are called to be and do, BEFORE we “do” anything. That may be the most important aspect of our doing–the reflection, the “aiming” before we “fire.” So, here is our application for today: Take ten minutes and consider the role rest plays in your life. Do you make sure you get enough rest in the form of sleep on a nightly basis? Do you take a “Sabbath” each week when you stop working and rest from your labors? Have you considered the idea that the day starts in the evening, as God indicated in Genesis 1? If not, what difference would it make in your life, if any, if you did consider that perspective? (I would encourage you to write or record your responses to these questions on paper or in a computer file, so you can return to them in the future and see whether you are growing with regard to rest.)

Heavenly Father, Thank You for making rest a primary reality in our lives as human beings. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit that I may consider my role in serving You and joining You in Your work rather than always asking You to bless mine. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.